Mormon Secrets

We know you’ve heard these things:

“Mormons don’t believe in Jesus.”

Or…when there is no way around the evidence that we do, they switch to:

“Well, they believe in a different Jesus.”

It’s a fast way to get Mormons to tune you out. They might, if they’re tired of the topic, point out that their Bible (the King James translation used by much of the world) has only one Jesus in it. Or they might remind you of the proper name of the church: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (Mormon is a nickname sometimes applied to members of this church.) They might ask you to track down the definition of the word Christian in the Bible. (There isn’t one.)

More likely, though, they are going to tell you what they believe about Jesus Christ, followed by bearing their testimonies of Jesus.

So what do they believe?

Mormons believe that Jesus Christ is the firstborn of the Father, who is the Father of our Spirits. The Bible tells us God created everything:

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made (John 1:3).

Mormons believe it was actually Jesus who created the earth for us, acting under God’s direction. He is the God usually referred to in the scriptures and the one who normally deals with us directly. (God the Father does sometimes introduce or testify of Jesus Christ directly, as in when Jesus was baptized.)

We believe He is completely unified with God in every way except body—Jesus’ baptism makes it pretty clear that is the case since God spoke and said He was pleased with Jesus.

Jesus volunteered to come to Earth as our Savior. You’ll learn more about how that came to be when you read about the Plan of Salvation. He came to earth as the son of a mortal woman and God. Despite the rumors, Mormons do not explain how this came to be. They teach only that it was done in a way that was respectful to both God and Mary. They do not believe intimacy occurred, since Mary was a virgin when Jesus was born, a fact recorded in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. They also do not believe the Holy Ghost is Jesus’ father—the Bible is very clear that God is the literal father of Jesus.

Jesus lived a sinless life, so when He approached His cousin, John, for baptism, John initially protested that Jesus did not need baptism. Jesus persisted and John baptized Him by immersion. Mormons follow that pattern and emulate the Savior by baptizing by immersion.

Mormons believe that Jesus Christ is their Savior. Unlike many religions, Mormons consider the events that occurred in the Garden of Gethsemane to be essential to Christ’s mission. There He suffered pain beyond anything we can imagine, so great an angel was sent to help him get through the experience.

“Christ’s agony in the garden is unfathomable by the finite mind, both as to intensity and cause. … He struggled and groaned under a burden such as no other being who has lived on earth might even conceive as possible. It was not physical pain, nor mental anguish alone, that caused him to suffer such torture as to produce an extrusion of blood from every pore; but a spiritual agony of soul such as only God was capable of experiencing. … In that hour of anguish Christ met and overcame all the horrors that Satan, ‘the prince of this world,’ could inflict. … In some manner, actual and terribly real though to man incomprehensible, the Savior took upon Himself the burden of the sins of mankind from Adam to the end of the world” (Elder James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, 3rd ed. [1916], 613).

Sometimes in our gratitude for the events that happened on the cross, we forget to honor the extraordinary events of the Garden. It was here that He took on all the sins of the world—each individual sin committed by each individual person. This makes the experience intensely personal for each of us—He suffered not for the collective sins, but for your personal sins, each one and for you.

Sometimes Mormons get criticized for putting so much emphasis on this amazing sacrifice made on our behalf by the Savior. We don’t really understand that, since, had it not happened, we could not be saved. It’s not that Mormons don’t also value the cross, it’s just that we recognize the importance of Gethsemane and don’t want it lost by those who focus only on the cross.

Mormons believe that Jesus Christ died for us on the cross and that this, like the events of the Garden of Gethsemane, was a voluntary sacrifice. Three days later He did what no other person had done before—He rose from the dead. This resurrection made it possible for all of us to rise from the dead as well.

Mormons don’t wear crosses, but it is not because we undervalue the meaning of Jesus’ death. We don’t criticize those who do, but we don’t do it ourselves, nor do we have crosses in our chapels.

“I do not wish to give offense to any of my Christian brethren who use the cross on the steeples of their cathedrals and at the altars of their chapels, who wear it on their vestments, and imprint it on their books and other literature. But for us, the cross is the symbol of the dying Christ, while our message is a declaration of the living Christ” (Gordon B. Hinckley, The Symbol of Christ, General Conference, April 1975).

The entire talk referenced above gives a more detailed explanation on the views of Mormons about the cross. Christ’s death was important, and it was a critical part of God’s plan for all of us. However, if He had only died, and not risen from the dead, it would have been just another death. What gives the event its power is the resurrection that followed, and it is this picture Mormons love to show. He broke death’s bonds and through this made it possible for us to live again. The entire atonement process, from Gethsemane to the cross to the resurrection, allowed us to choose to repent and to return home to Heavenly Father. It made salvation possible, and it is possible only because He loved us that much.

Mormons believe that gift deserves a gift in return. We believe it is our duty to keep the commandments He taught, to live a Christ-like life, to honor His name. Calling ourselves Christians comes with a powerful responsibility to live like a Christian. More than just going through the motions, we must live the gospel for the right reasons, out of a pure love for Jesus Christ. Only commandments kept for this reason have power in our lives.

On this website, you will learn more about what it means to a Mormon to live a Christ-like life. In the meantime, if you watch only one video on this website, choose this one. It is one of the most powerful testimonies of Jesus Christ’s atonement you will ever hear.